Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi came to Bookpeople last night to read from her new novel, Going Going. It was a fun reading, with a full house. The new novel is about a teenage girl in San Antonio who fights for small businesses and gets into all sort of hilarious and engaging arguments with friends and foes about why big business sucks.

After she read novel excerpts, Naomi read some of her poetry, including “Red Brocade,” which begins: “The Arabs used to say/When a stranger appears at your door,/feed him for three days/before asking who he is,/where he’s come from,/where he’s headed./That way, he’ll have strength enough/to answer./Or, by then you’ll be such good friends/you don’t care.”

Of course, I got all teary.

Naomi told the audience about Independent America, a website and documentary endeavor I hadn’t heard of: A cute Canadian couple, Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes, and their dog, travel around the US and take pictures and interview owners of local businesses.

It was cool to hear her talking about all these things at Bookpeople, too, under their “best independent bookstore” banner that hangs over the staircase.